how to reduce my food bill [merged]

pelirocco

calleyw wrote: »

Have you read the thread here by weezl and friends. Yes I have , the lets do our bit and help some poor family who knows no better?

They have managed to get a menu planner for a month for 4 people for a £100 and it includes the 5 pieces of fruit and veg a day,
omega 3 and has an appropriate percentage/ratio of fats/carbs and protein as well as calcium and dietary fibre. Yes in theory , but workable in practice ? for the ''couple its aimed at? ..doubtful

Does you diet include all that? It most certainly does

Not everyone who has a low budget eats rubbish all day. Sadly I think statistics prove you wrong on this .........i mean countrywide not mse wide btw

Not everyone can afford organic or free range. Had you read by post properly you would have seen that I aknowledged that some peoples income means they may have to compromise on food , however It is quite often a case of priorities , and people do have different priorites when it comes to spending money , I was just questioning why food comes so low for a lot of people , you only have to look at peoples SOA to see what people spend on mobile phones and sky TV etc .

Yours

Calley

.................

weezl74

What do you mean by who knows no better, and why when people have lived the full month do you not feel it's do-able?

Allegra

pelirocco wrote: »

. Yes I have , the lets do our bit and help some poor family who knows no better?

Dear oh dear :rotfl:Bless you, you have really cheered me up - I now have this vivid mental image of Weezl et al as Victorian ladies taking the nourishing soup that the Cook got up at the crack of dawn to prepare to the poor in the shacks.

Yes in theory , but workable in practice ? for the ''couple its aimed at? ..doubtful

Would you mind explaining what you meant here ? I tried out the Planner 1 for a month, and found it workable, and I know a bunch of other people did too.

It most certainly does

That's smashing :T Well done. Mine, I'm afraid, didn't - even though I considered myself fairly clued up about nutrients and was pretty confident that I had them all covered. Turns out it's a bit more complex than that - it takes an incredible amount of research to make sure you have all the goodies sewn up, especially on a tight budget. If you wouldn't mind sharing your dietary knowledge, I'd be grateful - I am always willing to learn more

Sadly I think statistics prove you wrong on this .........i mean countrywide not mse wide btw

Would that be "the families that know no better" ?

Had you read by post properly you would have seen that I aknowledged that some peoples income means they may have to compromise on food , however It is quite often a case of priorities , and people do have different priorites when it comes to spending money , I was just questioning why food comes so low for a lot of people , you only have to look at peoples SOA to see what people spend on mobile phones and sky TV etc .
.................

So perhaps some people really know no better ? That is to say, they will risk damaging their families' health for the sake of a mobile phone or entertainment ?

Thing is, it's easy to judge. As you acknowledged yourself, some people really do struggle to find the money for food; either because their income has suffered a catastrophic blow, or because their costs are horrendously high. There could be good reasons for those mobile phone bills - an ill parent or adult child living on their own some distance away ? Even Sky TV could have some justification (although I am struggling here to provide one - depression and need to have something to take your mind of things ? surely freeview would suffice....) - anyway, my point is that sometimes people really do only have a very small amount to spend on food. We see them on these fora daily.

So we can tut and shake our heads at them, or we can offer them some nourishing soup, courtesy of the Cook.... Or we can put a bit of time and effort into research and testing and come up with a menu planner to make the most of their scant resources.

BTW, I generally spend a bit more than £25 per person per month on the food for my family - I can afford to, and food is a high priority for us. But having grown up in a country that got blighted by war when I was in my early teens, I know what it's like not to have enough to eat, and I sometimes get really scared thinking that if our income got catastrophically slashed and we had very little money to make ends meet, we'd have to go hungry again. Or live off nutrient-free "food" and get ill. Knowing that I can do it, without feeling any sense of deprivation, for as little as £75 a month for three of us... It makes a huge difference to me.

calleyw

pelirocco wrote: »

Does you diet include all that? It most certainly does

Oh do please share as you seem to be so perfect and know everything so I assume that you know how much omega3/6 you need per day as well as calcium, iron,vitamins etc. I wait with baited breathe for your daily meal planner.

Don't belittle something Weezl74 and other Mser's have spent many hours working to achieve the best balance of vitamins and minerals the body requires. Have you even looked at the planner?

It is never meant to be a long term month after month meal planner. Which is something you would have have know if you had read it. Which it seems you have not.

It is about getting people over a few difficult months and helping them to take a set of skill to use again.

As most people seemed to have lost the art of planning.

Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn I am getting bored now as I don't have attention span as I have non-perfect diet with my 5 pieces of fruit and veg and 2000 calories a day diet. I am going to watch sky one on virgin cable on my invisible TV that I own. And better quickly call for my takeaway (that I might treat myself to once in a blue moon if ever) on my £30 mobile phone paid for with amazon vouchers from surveys I complete on line. On my 300 mins + 300 text £10 per month contract :rotfl:

Imperfectly Yours

Calley

MirjamL

That's our budget. 150 per month on food only.
Conditions: eat healthy, (no baked beans and no canned foods; except fruit and vegetables) easy to do, tasty, nutritious and with some variety.

For more information we are moving and because of that (deposit and Letting agent fees), we are going to be on a really really tight budget. The cheaper the better. Luckily we don't have children to feed right now. (but planning, so that's why need to be healthy food - like brown rice and pasta and wholemeal stuff). That 5 pounds must provide us also with breakfast. And i don't want to spend more than an hour cooking (more or less).
So anyone want to join our challenge and give some good ideas and recipes?
Things we've done so far:
Rice with mince and orange sauce (from orange juice, added some walnuts for extra flavour); vegetable stew (potatoe, carrot, peas, corn); pasta carbonara; jacket potatoes with cheese and ham; pancakes (not so healthy, but we slipped ); quiche (self made pastry, some pasta, ham, cheese, tomato, pineapple, eggs, seasoning, milk).
Need ideas now.
What's for dinner?

Horseunderwater

Buy veg that is reduced in price and make a huge stock pan full of soup. Basically just add any veg you fancy to it and let it cook with a little salt pepper and any other herb/spice you like.
Look for bogof's on things like minced beef/pork/ turkey etc.
If you're not too squeamish, you could try road kill so long as you get it fresh and deal with it right away, it can be a very good way to feed a family.
I have done rabbit, deer, pheasant, but not recently.
Bake your own cakes and biscuits using value or basics or smart price flour and eggs. They can be frozen.
Pasta shapes with homemade cheese sauce - add chopped ham or tuna or prawns.
Grow your own veg in large bins if you have space. Even a balcony can give some area.
FRances.

Coopdivi

Thing is though £150 isn't a tight budget. For that you can eat normally and probably be able to afford a few bottles of wine into the bargain. And there's nothing wrong with baked beans. They're high in fibre and low fat.

If you're really worried about saving money then do casseroles which are easy peasy and use cheap cuts of meat, curries, pizzas home made if you're feeling adventurous, mackerel instead of salmon, shop pies etc.

kirstyjessen

MirjamL wrote: »

That's our budget. 150 per month on food only.
Conditions: eat healthy, (no baked beans and no canned foods; except fruit and vegetables) easy to do, tasty, nutritious and with some variety.

For more information we are moving and because of that (deposit and Letting agent fees), we are going to be on a really really tight budget. The cheaper the better. Luckily we don't have children to feed right now. (but planning, so that's why need to be healthy food - like brown rice and pasta and wholemeal stuff). That 5 pounds must provide us also with breakfast. And i don't want to spend more than an hour cooking (more or less).
So anyone want to join our challenge and give some good ideas and recipes?
Things we've done so far:
Rice with mince and orange sauce (from orange juice, added some walnuts for extra flavour); vegetable stew (potatoe, carrot, peas, corn); pasta carbonara; jacket potatoes with cheese and ham; pancakes (not so healthy, but we slipped ); quiche (self made pastry, some pasta, ham, cheese, tomato, pineapple, eggs, seasoning, milk).
Need ideas now.
What's for dinner?

me and my partner have no children but we have a kitten our monthly food bill for 4 weeks including everything for the cat food cat litter etc comes to £60 a month there is loads of meals you can do

macaroni cheese
cauliflower cheese
pasta with pesto
home made pizza
rice, sausages, veg and fish sauce
caserole
cottage pie
shepards pie

the list is endless.

nitr02007

One of my favourite "austerity" meals is pasta with bacon.

Use cooking bacon (bacon offcuts) - chopped and fried. Make a tomato sauce or use a cheap jar of pasta sauce. Add any veg you fancy. Mix in cooked rigatoni (pasta quills).

Easy, tasty and cheap.
Also its nice cold the next day as a pasta "salad".

MirjamL

well i would love to know exactly how do you do your meals for a fiver. Like a list of grocery shoppings with prices and where did you buy them. And well cooking instructions would be nice too
PS! 60 for a month is a great accomplishment Wish i could do that. Then i could spend some money for entertainment or something good. Please teach me to save more.